If you have ventured out to this mall which takes up 1.2 million square feet of real estate, you will have noticed that it is very much the same kind of mall reminiscent of the last century. It is located very close to the Tsawwassen Ferry terminal on the Delta flood plain which did contain the most arable soils in Canada. It has no density around it, and while there are transit connections, it’s still a hike to get there from anywhere. To attract employees the mall has laid on its own bus to move employees from Scott Road Station in Surrey. This mall is really designed with its 6,000 parking spaces for people with vehicles prepared to drive a long way and go for a day shopping. It’s so twentieth century.

The mall is very lightly used by consumers on weekdays. There is such little mall traffic that the whole place shut down early with some of the winter snow storms in order to get employees safely home. Most evenings the mall is fairly empty. The idea of pedestrians walking to the mall was never really thought of, despite the fact that Tsawwassen is just across the seven lane highway. Price Tags has previously written about the accessibility challenges for pedestrians and cyclists.

As reported in the Delta Optimist the Corporation of Delta has been lobbying for a five million dollar pedestrian overpass at Highway 17 and 52nd Street to get pedestrians safely across the street to the mall. This intersection has been fabulously overbuilt by the Province in true super highway style, with dedicated right lanes on and off of 52nd Street, despite the fact that traffic is throttling down to a municipal two lane road. Pedestrians and cyclists have to cross 40 meters across seven lanes of traffic and two turning lanes, leapfrogging to tiny cement pedestrian refuge “islands”. There are lots of improvements that could be made at grade to make it easier for pedestrians to cross to/from the mall that would not require a huge pedestrian bridge. But that is not in the purview of Delta, or the Province. It’s all about that five million dollar pedestrian bridge.

Transportation Minister Todd Stone wrote the Corporation of Delta stating he’s been evaluating the intersection and “These assessments found that pedestrian volumes were lower than the forecasted volumes which were considered when the business case was undertaken to address the merits of a pedestrian overpass. In addition, staff did not observe pedestrian overcrowding on the traffic islands or any other pedestrian related safety concerns.”

And here’s the best part- “The current intersection improvements, like similar intersections within the Lower Mainland, provide adequate accommodation for pedestrians and cyclists.”Even the Delta Chief of Police has weighed in, noting that in his expertise the length of the intersection, the signal timing and traffic speed make pedestrian access across Highway 17 challenging. Meanwhile, Tsawwassen Mills Mall motors on, looking for those last-century consumers willing to spend a day at the mall.

Maybe that was the plan all along. First force everyone to drive (in order to sell cars, gas, etc.) and then if there still are people that aren’t able to do that, suggest expensive things built to accommodate them.

On the one hand there are people saying that the mall would draw shoppers away from downtown Tsawwassen (which is obvious).

Now there are those who say that pedestrians – who are fully suited to remaining in their own downtown Tsawwassen neighbourhood for shopping – need to be able to walk great distances to the car-oriented mall down the highway.

Maybe the low volumes of pedestrian traffic reflect that pedestrians DO want to stay in downtown Tsawwassen to shop.

I view this as an example of “you can’t be all things to all people” or looking for an unmet need when there isn’t or may not be one.

… or maybe Tsawwassen Mills should establish a shuttle bus from downtown Tsawwassen to the mall – I wonder how that would be received?

Such short sighted vision given TFN is also building 2,500 homes west of the mall over the next decade and how are these residents suppose to cross the highway to catch the bus or go to the Tsawwassen Springs development?